Chapter 136 Be Careful
They rushed all the way from Kyoto to Nanchong County in Bashu. Even though Su Qingqing was taken good care of by Rong Que, she had lost a lot of weight by the time she arrived.
When they arrived, Nanchong County Magistrate Zhao Bingchun was already waiting on the official road.
There were disaster victims and corpses everywhere, but Zhao Bingchun's face was beaming with joy. Behind him were a group of followers, some of whom looked calm while others were extremely anxious.
As soon as the carriage stopped, he hurried to meet it and bowed deeply, "I am finally expecting your Highness and Madam to come. If your Highness hadn't come, my county government would have been occupied by bandits."
After paying his respects, Zhao Bingchun wiped away his tears and complained.
Su Qingqing and Rong Que looked at each other and exchanged glances. Rong Que did not speak. Su Qingqing pouted and said unhappily, "Alright, alright, I'm exhausted after traveling for such a long time, and I still have to listen to you making noises here."
Zhao Bingchun was stunned and for a moment he didn't dare to judge what the Crown Princess meant.
The prince knew that he had been at the forefront of several disaster relief operations in the court. He was very capable and had always completed disaster relief and bandit suppression operations beautifully.
Rong Que glanced at Su Qingqing, his eyes full of doting helplessness, then turned to Zhao Bingchun and smiled, "I came here to provide disaster relief, but she thought I was here to travel and insisted on following me, but she regretted it halfway through. I was worried about her going back alone, do you have a yard with better conditions?"
Before Rong Que finished speaking, Zhao Bingchun immediately understood what he meant and breathed a sigh of relief. It is said that the prince is difficult and clear-headed, but... this rumor is wrong.
Thinking this in his heart, Zhao Bingchun did not dare to be too presumptuous, and only said tentatively: "The conditions are naturally not as good as those in Kyoto. Now it is a disaster, and the bandits come to harass from time to time. I am afraid that the queen will be wronged."
Su Qingqing looked displeased and followed Rong Que with a sullen face. She was met by Zhao Bingchun and taken to the county government office.
A welcoming banquet had already been prepared in the county government office.
The male guests and female guests were separated by a screen. The male guests were naturally the staff members in the county government, and the female guests were the wives and daughters of these staff members.
There were a total of eight dishes on the huge table, seven of which were vegetarian, and the only meat dish was roasted sparrow.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. The famine is so severe that even the government office can't produce any decent dishes." The county magistrate's wife sat there uncomfortably, licking her lips and speaking weakly.
Su Qingqing sat at the table with a cold face, not even bothering to give the least respect, and slammed her chopsticks, "You guys eat, I can't eat!"
After saying this, Su Qingqing turned to the county magistrate's wife and said, "Here is the room prepared for me. Take me to rest."
The county magistrate's wife dared not say much. She hurriedly apologized and led Su Qingqing to the accommodation courtyard that had been arranged in advance.
The yard is not big, and the layout inside is as shabby as today's meal.
The county magistrate's wife looked at Su Qingqing's expression and said awkwardly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me. When the famine was not serious before, in order to help the victims, my wife and husband sold a lot of things at home and went to the next county to buy food.
But later, the number of victims increased, and even after selling off most of the county government’s belongings, they still couldn’t gather enough grain…”
Su Qingqing waved her hand to interrupt her , "Is there any good inn in your county? You want me to stay here? You are crazy, this is a place for people to live!"
The county magistrate's wife was so frightened that she fell to her knees. "Your Majesty, please understand. The county is in disaster. How can an inn be operated? Even if it can be operated, it will be robbed by bandits."
Su Qingqing looked at her unhappily and was about to say something else when Rong Que came in from outside.
Su Qingqing curled her lips, rushed forward and threw herself at Rong Que, crying, "This is not a place for people to live. I can't eat or sleep. I want to go back."
Jixiang was very tactful and took the county magistrate's wife away.
As soon as they left the courtyard, the county magistrate's wife said to Jixiang anxiously, "Young lady, your Majesty..."
Jixiang rolled his eyes and said, "Our queen grew up in Zhao State in luxury. She has never suffered such hardship before. You want her to live in a pigsty."
The county magistrate's wife said with an embarrassed face, "What the girl said."
Jixiang was too lazy to talk nonsense with her, and directly took out a gold ingot and stuffed it into the wife of the county magistrate, "You think of a way. I won't make it difficult for you to stay at home tonight. At least prepare some edible food for my wife. She has been on a bumpy journey, and we can't let her starve to death before we get relief."
After saying that, Jixiang didn't waste any more words with her. He turned back to the small courtyard and slammed the door shut.
As soon as she left, the pale and helpless expression of the county magistrate's wife gradually relaxed. Looking at the gold ingots in her hand, a smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Look at the nonsense this maid is saying.
There are eight dishes right there, but you don't eat them and insist on starving people to death.
Tsk~
The county magistrate's wife took the gold ingots and walked back to her room in many twists and turns.
Compared to the shabby and simple house of Su Qingqing, her room could be called a magnificent room. After washing her hands with milk and taking a sip of the honey water brought by the maid, the wife of the county magistrate went into the inner room.
There were five or six dishes on a small round table. There was not much of each dish, but they were all exquisite.
The maid poured her a cup of chrysanthemum wine, and the county magistrate's wife picked up a crystal shrimp ball and put it into her mouth, "Where is the master?"
Immediately, a maidservant beside him said, "My Lord is afraid that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will want to talk to him at night, so he is resting in front. He said he will come back after His Royal Highness the Crown Prince falls asleep , so Madam can eat first and don't wait for him."
The county magistrate's wife picked up two pieces of steamed sea bass with chopsticks and said, "The sea bass is tasteless today. Take it away. I want to eat winter melon and lamb chops. Ask the kitchen to cook a pot of them. Send these dishes to the Crown Princess and say that they were collected from all over the city."
The maid responded, hurriedly cleared the dishes from the table, and gave other instructions to the kitchen.
When a bowl of winter melon and lamb chops was served, Zhao Bingchun happened to come over yawning. Smelling the aroma, Zhao Bingchun smiled and said, "I've suffered a lot today. I almost vomited from eating all the food on the table. But the prince didn't put down his chopsticks, so I could only pretend to be hungry."
He picked up a piece of boneless lamb chops with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. The aroma of meat immediately filled his mouth. Zhao Bingchun looked satisfied. "How is your side?"
The county magistrate's wife drank two mouthfuls of soup and felt that she had no appetite. She pushed the soup aside and said, "This Crown Princess is a precious person. I think you are just too cautious.
When she was in Zhao State, she was a princess, arrogant and had never suffered any hardship. You treat her so miserably, aren't you afraid that she will really be angry and beat you, the county magistrate up?"
Zhao Bingchun smiled and said, "I am just worried. After all, the prince is not on our side. If we are not of the same mind, he can use me to get the upper hand if I make a small mistake. Just be patient and observe for a while."
As the two were talking, a maid hurriedly reported from outside, "My lord, it's bad, there's a commotion going on over there with the Crown Prince."
